


A Kiss for All Five Lives

by sunnyhime



Category: Bleach
Genre: Domestic Bliss, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29840628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnyhime/pseuds/sunnyhime
Summary: Orihime reminisces about Ichigo's confession on a lazy morning by herself.
Relationships: Inoue Orihime/Kurosaki Ichigo
Comments: 7
Kudos: 17





	A Kiss for All Five Lives

“Don’t forget the recyclables!”  
Ichigo half turned, bag in hand, and smiled up at Orihime as he waved goodbye for the day. Orihime hummed in contentment to herself while she watched him jog across the street in his stiffly-new suit, tie slightly too loose and pulled off to one side. Today was his big first day, and he’d been jittery with excitement as well as nerves the past 24 hours. The first “real world job” after college was the scariest, he had told her late last night as she had massaged circles into his cleanly cut orange tresses.  
Ori closed her eyes as the lukewarm fall breeze wafted in through the ajar window she pondered through. She could hear a lawnmower off in the distance, along with the next-door neighbor’s wind chimes. With a sigh full of nostalgic bliss, she relaxed into the window seat. Soon, it would be too cool to have the windows open like this.  
_I wonder if he’ll make friends with his coworkers easily,_ Orihime wondered to herself somewhat worriedly, _I hope they don’t judge a book by its cover like they did in high school._ Ichigo now was a lot different than the boy Ichigo she had come to love, however. His permanent scowl had softened and now only deepened when he glared inattentively at his email, or at the back of a box of pancake mix he swore thought included eggs. He was also a lot more talkative, finding enjoyment in stopping by the nearby field every weekend to coach and encourage the neighborhood kids as they played their weekly so-called tournaments. He had even accompanied Orihime to greet their new neighbors after the move, though of course stating it was for her safety as he didn’t want “some random creep luring her into a dungeon”, as he so eloquently put it.  
They had both changed.  
Ori’s fingertips rose to touch one of her hair clips, as she slowly opened her eyes to the eggshell ceiling. She felt a small pang of loneliness, before it was switched out for the warmth of love. _You don’t have to worry about me anymore, big brother. The fighting is over._  
After Ywach disappeared, several years of searching for any trace of him had ended in dead ends. Kyoraku-san eventually declared the investigation closed, and that if the villain were to reappear as he claimed, they would simply have to be ready. However, as more years passed, many had all but forgotten his last threat. Ichigo and herself had graduated easily enough--to the surprise of their attendance officer--and together went off to Tokyo University.  
Orihime smiled to herself as she remembered that fateful day, diploma in hand, as Ichigo had finally voiced what she had been waiting to hear come from his lips for seemingly forever. They had been inching closer and closer through the years, without ever truly speaking their minds. It had become almost painfully obvious, according to Tatsuki. They always seemed to come together, like long lost magnets. That is why when the day finally came, the confession itself did not surprise her… so much as his words. 

_“Inoue, the night before you were taken to Hueco Mundo… I had a dream.” A blush was plastered to his cheeks, while his hand fidgeted. His eyes seemed to dart everywhere except to look at her. “What did you dream about?” she tentatively asked, head tilted in confusion and attentiveness. Ichigo nervously tussled his own hair.  
“Well… it was about you,” he blurted, “you were talking to me. From somewhere far away.” His eyes landed on Orihime long enough to see she wasn’t stopping him, so he continued. “You were telling me a story, about five different lives.”  
At this, he finally saw a flicker of understanding behind her large silver eyes. A red dusting rose under her cheeks, prompting Ichigo to look away once again.  
“And then you told me you loved me, and I woke up. My face was wet for some reason, and I felt like I could smell--no, feel, that you were there. But I assumed it was just my imagination.”  
Now it was Orihime’s turn to fidget. She bit her lip and clamped her hands together.  
His voice softened. “Then I learned it wasn’t a dream. Mostly from that old man, but I also don’t think I’ve gotten so strong as to fully heal overnight.” There was a sudden rush of wind, bringing up all the fallen cherry blossoms in its wake to instead dance above their heads.  
Ori felt, rather than heard, Ichigo take a step closer to her. Her eyes rose to greet his.  
“I wanted to tell you, that day I fought Grimmjow, that I’d heard. I wanted to tell you… a lot of things. But I didn’t feel like I was strong enough yet. There were still things to do, and I had let you get kidnapped and get hurt and…” Without realizing it, Orihime had closed the gap between them to set a comforting hand on his arm. His knitted brows relaxed a bit, and for the first time, his eyes locked onto her.  
“I wanted to say, Inoue… I love you. I’ve been in love with you. For a long fuckin’ time.” Orihime’s own brows shot up at the curse, and then fell back softly as she watched his blush return. Ichigo had something else on his mind, she could tell, so she continued to wait patiently. Heck, she had waited years just for this moment, she could wait a few more moments to speak.  
With surprise, she felt Ichigo’s large, calloused hands take hers into his, so gently she could only feel the heat from them if she really concentrated.  
“But there’s more to it…” he continued gruffly, “you’re not just some random girl from school or just the best friend of one of mine. It’s...different with you. I don’t want to ask you to just date, because that’s not it that’s not what I want and not what you deserve. I don’t want to just be casual.” Their eyes never wavered from each others’. Orihime thought she could feel a bead of sweat hit her knuckle. Was she blinking?  
“You’ve been at my side for so long, cheering me on even when I was too dumb to know it. You’re special. You’ve cheered me up in ways no one alive could.” Ichigo swallowed hard, and she subconsciously squeezed his hand, not finding it hard to imagine what--or really who--came into his mind. “I feel certain,” he went on with confidence, “that if we had met in every other life, I would’ve ended up feeling this way about you in every single one. Not just five.” Ichigo’s caramel eyes seemed to sparkle as he tenderly smiled down at her, and Orihime could feel tears rising in her own.  
“So, Inoue-san, I’d like to ask you to be my girlfriend, with my intention being to make you my wife...when you feel ready.” He hurriedly tagged on. Ori’s tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked on at the boy she loved so fervently. She paused, taking in the passion in his eyes, the slight tremble in his wrists, the way his lips pressed together in determination.  
“Hey, Kurosaki-kun, were you awake for what happened before that?”  
Ichigo blinked, and leaned back on his heels. By the looks of it, he hadn’t expected that. He shook his head. “Um, no, I think I just woke up once you started to--”  
Before he could say another word, Orihime’s lips were on his.  
She felt him inhale to gasp, and then slowly melt into her. His diploma-clad hand crushed her into him, full of lust and longing, while the other retreated to place itself gently under her chin, lovingly soft; like he was struggling with the fear of breaking her and the instinctive need to do just that. His lips were surprisingly soft.  
She felt Ichigo move to playfully tug on a strand of her long auburn locks, and she pulled away to smile at him shyly. His eyes were full of bright excitement--maybe even relief?--while his mouth twisted into a smirk. Orihime noted his hand on the small of her back hadn’t moved even a centimeter. Ichigo’s eyebrow raised in a silent question.  
“Well, that’s what I wanted to do. Tried to, even… b-but I was too nervous.” Her cheeks burned as her eyes shifted away in embarrassment. She realized a cherry blossom had stuck itself straight up in one of Ichigo’s spiky hairs, and absentmindedly moved to remove it. Her hand was stopped in its path, however, by a much larger and stronger one.  
Ichigo was beaming down at her.  
“I wanted to do that too,” he chuckled, “for a while now.” His expression suddenly darkened, and he looked at her with utmost sincerity. “But I’m glad our first kiss wasn’t goodbye.”  
The wind picked up again, and petals forgotten, their lips found each other once more. _

“I’m glad too, Ichigo.” Orihime said to herself, pushing off the cushioned seat to stand confidently. She patted her rose-tinted cheeks and smiled to the empty room.  
“Time to get ready for the day! No more daydreaming for Lil’ Hime.” Her arm had automatically risen in a pose of energetic determination, but for a moment she faltered.  
Her hand fell down to tenderly touch her stomach. “Or you, little one.” She made little circles around her belly button, causing the diamond ring on her fourth finger to gleam in the light. She giggled quietly, and marched down the stairs to make herself some breakfast.  
Today would be a good day, for both of them.

**Author's Note:**

> This will either be a one-shot or something I come back to add one-off scenes of domestic ichihime. Either way, hope you enjoyed!  
> PS. if it looks weird I'm sorry I uploaded from google docs with no sleep


End file.
